Heretofore, railroad timber, including wooden ties and planking have been handled by the use of timber tongs manipulated by persons. These tongs included single tines for engaging the timber. Such timber may include cross ties, switch ties, bridge ties, bridge timbers, and crossing planks, all of which would be too heavy for a single person to handle by himself. The usual railroad ties have heretofore been handled by use of manually operable tongs requiring at least two persons for each set of tongs. Sometimes it is necessary to use three sets of tongs and six persons in order to handle large timbers. The proximity of the persons handling the tongs with respect to the timbers is such that inadvertent slippage of the timber from the tongs can cause injury to a person or persons handling the timber. Thus, the manpower requirements for handling the timbers are labor-intensive and hazardous to the workers.